A judge in Pennsylvania has set a wonderful precedent that I hope will keep ID at bay. The document describing the ruling is quite good, even if it is a dry “legal” document. I found a few quotes from it that I like quite a lot.

First, defense expert Professor Fuller agreed that ID aspires to “change the ground rules” of science and lead defense expert Professor Behe admitted that his broadened definition of science, which encompasses ID, would also embrace astrology.

Do these people really want to make science into a farce? Do they want to turn back time and make us all ignorant and god-fearing, huddled in a cave, afraid of the world? Do they want to undo the progress we’ve made since the Renaissance? I sincerely hope this is not their aim, but I firmly believe that if they have their way, that’s what we’ll get.

ID is at bottom premised upon a false dichotomy, namely, that to the extent evolutionary theory is discredited, ID is confirmed. This argument is not brought to this Court anew, and in fact, the same argument, termed “contrived dualism” in McLean, was employed by creationists in the 1980’s to support “creation science.”

Creationism -> Creation Science -> ID -> ?

In summary, the disclaimer singles out the theory of evolution for special treatment, misrepresents its status in the scientific community, causes students to doubt its validity without scientific justification, presents students with a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory, directs them to consult a creationist text as though it were a science resource, and instructs students to forego scientific inquiry in the public school classroom and instead to seek out religious instruction elsewhere.

The judge in this case did a very thorough job of showing the defendants to have acted outside the realm of their authority by attempting to teach an inherently religious idea as science. How long are we going to have to put up with these clowns before they stop? I believe the answer is “forever”, but that these events take place in waves. From my own experience as a high-schooler in Bakersfield several years ago and watching the attempt to make Christianity cool with slogans like “What Would Jesus Do?”, I perceive this and the Kansas issue as the crest of this most recent wave, which has been building for at least the last 10 years.

It helps to keep in mind that the waxing and waning of the Creationists over the last 100 years or so is only a ripple on top of a great wave that began with the Renaissance. Like this small wave we’re calling ID, the scientific revolution that began more than 300 years ago will eventually wane, collapse, and perish. I only hope that the period of darkness is swift, and not within my lifetime.

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